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Victoria ranks education more highly than Australian IT industry

07 June, 2006 13:52

<p>Graduate and post-graduate degrees rank highly in male dominated industry</p><p>Melbourne Australia, 7 June 2006 – University education is paramount to securing positions in the Victorian IT market, according to the findings of a report released this week.</p><p>Victoria has a higher regard for formal university qualifications than any other state or territory surveyed. Bachelor degrees (28 per cent), post graduate degrees (43 per cent) and MBA qualifications (29 per cent) were all marked as having high to very high influence on hiring decisions.</p><p>Victoria also perceives relevant skills certificate or vendor accreditation as having a higher influence on their hiring decisions than other states and territories – 63 per cent of respondents in Victoria rated it as having a high influence, compared to 50 per cent in New South Wales and 56 per cent in Queensland.</p><p>However, in stark contrast Victorian employers have the lowest regard in the country for a TAFE certificate. Only 5 per cent of respondents consider it as having a high/very high influence on their hiring decisions and 58 per cent stated a TAFE certificate has a low influence on their hiring decisions.</p><p>These and further findings were released in the Diversiti IT Hiring Influence Report, which was launched this week with a video address by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan at events in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. A panel of speakers focused on IT in Australia: jobs outlook, skills development and education, with speakers in Melbourne including:</p><p> Andrew Lock, Senior Executive, Accenture Dr Henry Linger, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University Margot Ingoldby, Manager ICT Investment &amp; Business Development, Multimedia Victoria Chris Gillies, IT Governance specialist, and non-executive director on a number of public and not-for-profit boards Deborah Howard, Managing Director, Diversiti.</p><p>Women almost invisible</p><p>Compared to NSW, Victorian IT departments are ignoring a large potential talent pool, with close to two thirds of Victorian respondents giving less than one third of jobs to women over the past 12 months.</p><p>Half of NSW respondents claimed that less than 30 per cent of their IT hires were female in the same period.</p><p>Only 6 per cent of Victorian respondents gave 51-70 per cent of jobs to women in the past 12 months.16 per cent of respondents in Queensland claimed that females made up 51 – 70 per cent of all IT hires in the past year.</p><p>“Although only 33% of Victorian respondents agree that the lack of women filling IT roles is cause for concern, this was the highest level expressed by any state surveyed,” commented Deborah Howard, Managing Director, Diversiti.</p><p>When asked to nominate the factor that will have the greatest influence on IT labour supplies, 54 per cent of Victorian respondents cited competition from other professions. This compares with 47 per cent of all respondents from across Australia.</p><p>“The lack of women in the Victorian IT workforce and the fear of competition from other professions present an opportunity for the Victorian IT industry,” Howard continued. “The Australian IT industry as a whole is in need of an image makeover to attract and retain talent. This includes Victoria.</p><p>“IT employers and industry bodies can access the untapped pool of female talent in Victoria by working together to reinvigorate the image of IT,” she concluded.</p><p>What’s in store for the next 12 months</p><p>Victorian employers are upbeat about future hiring opportunities. 54 per cent of those involved in the decision-making process believe the IT hiring situation will remain the same, while 9 per cent believe the hiring process will get easier. This makes Victoria the most optimistic state represented in the report.</p><p>The greatest challenges for the next 12 months, as nominated by Victorian employers, are providing up-to-date training (36%), redundancies and competitive salaries.</p><p>If career counsellors and parents see a career in IT as unstable and unreliable, and young people see a career in IT as ‘geeky’ or ‘nerdy’ then the skills shortages will continue to grow and the industry will continue to suffer.</p><p>Andrew Lock from Accenture noted, “As an industry, we need to identify the source of the perception and then increase the focus on changing the perception at school level by becoming more actively involved in schools. We need to get people to understand that IT offers a range of challenging and rewarding career opportunities. In fact, the Victorian Government has recently started up an initiative to do this.</p><p>“The research also shows that employers are focusing on university IT graduates. As employers within this sector we need to also consider TAFE graduates. We need to be prepared to do something different to what we’ve traditionally done,” he added.</p><p>The survey conducted as research for the Diversiti IT Hiring Influence Report targeted Australian employers who currently hire candidates across all IT functions. 365 Australian employers representing CIOs, IT Managers and HR Managers ranging from small, medium and large businesses in all industry sectors took part in the research for the Diversiti IT Hiring Influence Report.</p><p>To speak with Deborah Howard, Managing Director of Diversiti or to request a copy of the Diversiti IT Hiring Influence Report 2006 please contact:</p><p>Gerard Mansour or Rachael HoyRed Agency:(612) 9955 7877gerard.mansour@redagency.com.aurachael.hoy@redagency.com.au</p><p>About Diversiti Diversiti is an Australian leader in the provision of quality permanent and contract IT recruitment and workforce management solutions. Since its inception in 1988 Diversiti has recruited IT specialists and non-IT professionals for clients across a broad range of industries including financial services and insurance, telecommunications and technology, government, products, manufacturing and resources. Diversiti is part of Accenture, the world’s leading management consulting and technology services company. To find out more please visit http://www.diversiti.com.au.</p>

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